wit¹ (wĭt)
n.

1. The natural ability to perceive and understand; intelligence.
2. 1. Keenness and quickness of perception or discernment; ingenuity. Often used in the plural: living by one's wits.
   2. wits Sound mental faculties; sanity: scared out of my wits.
3. 1. The ability to perceive and express in an ingeniously humorous manner the relationship between seemingly incongruous or disparate things.
   2. One noted for this ability, especially one skilled in repartee.
   3. A person of exceptional intelligence.

idioms:

at (one's) wits' end

1. At the limit of one's mental resources; utterly at a loss.

have (or keep) (one's) wits about (one)

1. To remain alert or calm, especially in a crisis.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

SYNONYMS   wit, humor, repartee, sarcasm, irony. These nouns denote forms of expression that elicit amusement or laughter. Wit implies intellectual keenness and the ability to perceive and express in a diverting way analogies between dissimilar things: "Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words" (Dorothy Parker). Humor suggests the faculty of recognizing what is amusing, comical, incongruous, or absurd: "Man's sense of humor seems to be in inverse proportion to the gravity of his profession" (Mary Roberts Rinehart). Repartee implies a facility for answering swiftly and cleverly: "framing comments ... that would be sure to sting and yet leave no opening for repartee" (H.G. Wells). Sarcasm is a form of caustic wit intended to wound or ridicule another: "[His] tone seemed as if meant to be kind and soothing, but yet had a bitterness of sarcasm in it" (Nathaniel Hawthorne). Irony is a form of expression in which an intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning of the words used: "A drayman in a passion [a rage] calls out, 'You are a pretty fellow,' without suspecting that he is uttering irony" (Thomas Macaulay). See also synonyms at mind.

wit² (wĭt)

v. Archaic, wist (wĭst), wit·ting (wĭt'ĭng), first and third person singular present tense, wot (wŏt).

v.tr.
To be or become aware of; learn.

v.intr.
To know.

idiom:

to wit

1. That is to say; namely.

[Middle English, from Old English witan.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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